


Poisonous Udon

by King988



Category: The King: Eternal Monarch, 더 킹：영원의 군주 | The King: Eternal Monarch (TV)
Genre: Food Poisoning, Friendship, Gen, One Shot, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:27:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26509720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/King988/pseuds/King988
Summary: In which Jo Yeong tests Lee Gon’s food, only this time, things actually go wrong.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 83





	Poisonous Udon

**Author's Note:**

> This is a quick one shot...Ahhh my brain is diseased with Yeong whump ideas I need to get them out, sorry it's so bad (pls excuse my medical inaccuracies)😅🙈.

The king and his royal guards captain always shared a table. In fact, Yeong was his only eating buddy aside from politicians. Lady Noh had a different schedule and the king certainly does not eat in the palace cafeteria with the palace staffs. And whatever food is delivered to the King would be tested for poison by Yeong, even when they wouldn’t be eating together, Yeong would always go to the kitchen and eat a portion of whatever would be presented to Gon, counting it as a meal for himself. Well, if nothing went wrong. The chances of poisoning the king through food is very slim, of all these years that other staffs and Yeong had tested for Gon’s food, there had been no incidence of poisoning.

Today was one of those days where Gon had been working late and decided to have a late dinner with Yeong- who was by his side the whole time. Gon and Yeong chatted about unrelated things around the coffee table in the study. Servants showed up with a trolly, uncovering the lid to reveal two bowls of udon, the mouth watering umami flooded the study.

After the servants excused themselves, Yeong picked up the chopsticks on instinct and filled an empty bowl with a small bit of everything in Gon’s portion. No matter how hungry Gon is, he’d always give Yeong the time to do the testing, it’s such a regular occurrence that both people don’t have to communicate a single word.

Gon looked at Yeong, who had just swallowed the last bite. Yeong nodded in return, signalling that it was safe to eat. 

Gon smiled and cheerfully brought his portion before him and mixed up the noodles, he always liked the udon here. As he was about to take the first bite, the piping hot noodle was literally millimeters from touching his tongue, a hand out of nowhere slapped the chopsticks off his grip, the metal utensils fell onto the wooden floor, the sound of metal clinks filled the room.

Gon turned to the man in question, annoyed, “What the hell Yeong?!”

At first Gon didn’t comprehend what was wrong, but Yeong looked like he was about to faint. His eyes bloodshot, and his face red like a tomato, as if he’s suffocating. The rough motion to stop Gon from eating had caused him to fall on the floor, he’s currently kneeling on one knee, a hand clutching at his chest as he forces air into his lungs. Which seemed to have stopped working properly.

Gon rushed to his side in panic, “Y-Yeong what’s wrong?”

“Food”, Yeong managed to croak out between his laboured breaths, “I-I can’t breathe”

Gon understood everything immediately. Someone had tried to poison Gon. And Yeong became the victim.

“Somebody come!”, Gon screamed at the door, but nobody came. It’s just about quarter past eleven, the staffs must’ve retired for the night knowing that Yeong would be keeping Gon company.

Pain is written all over the younger man’s face, Gon laid him down carefully on the wooden floor. He fumbled with his phone clumsily, pressing onto the one number that he knows will be answered the moment it is through. _Sub-Captain Seok Ho-Pil_. 

“Yes Pyeha”, Ho-Pil answered

“Get an ambulance now! Yeong has been poisoned! And lock down the palace, nobody in or out!”, Gon barked at the phone, hanging up before Ho-Pil could come up with a reply.

Gon’s mind was turning at the speed of light, _What was it that they taught in first aid? Can I touch him? What do I do if he stops breathing?_ Gon took a deep breath to calm himself down, he can’t be panicking because Yeong’s life depends on him.

“Right, first secure the airway.”, Gon mutters to himself

He turned to Yeong, his friend’s teary eyes trained onto himself, “Yeong, I’m going to tilt your head a little okay?”

Gon face palmed himself internally, What had he expected? his best friend is suffocating, how can the man reply him? Gon tilted back Yeong’s head to keep the airway open, but it didn’t do much for making it easier to breathe. Gon was so scared, Yeong’s lips had a taint of blue due to the lack of oxygen and the whistling noise that followed as he forced in each breath made Gon realise that he couldn’t do anything to help…Yeong was fading away before him.

Gon slapped Yeong’s face lightly, “Stay with me Yeong! Don’t sleep!”

Yeong’s eyes were fluttering, they looked so tired. His gaze looked like he’s ready to give up. Yeong never gives up. This worried Gon so much, he’s so scared that if he looked away, Yeong would close his eyes. _Gosh, why are they taking so long?_ Inevitably, Gon watched as Yeong’s eyelids lowered, and then they shut completely. Leaving the king dumbfounded.

“Yeong? Jo Yeong!”, Gon called desperately

Next thing, Ho-Pil and some other guards bursted into the room, ”The ambulance crew is here!”

Ho-Pil walked by his side, placing a hand on his shoulder, “Pyeha, please give them some space to work on Captain Jo.”

Gon didn’t budge, but eventually allowed them to take him aside, his gaze never leaving Yeong, who is surrounded by doctors and medics. They unbuttoned his shirt and removed the bulletproof vest, leaving his chest bare. As one team was busy sticking on the AED pads and starting an IV, the other team started to asses him; Stethoscopes, penlights, oximeter...

It hasn’t even been 2 minutes before Gon saw Yeong’s body starting to convulse, what haunted him even more was when he caught a glimpse of white foam escaping Yeong’s parted mouth. 

“He’s seizing! Roll him to the side!”, a medic shouted, then everyone proceeded to roll Yeong’s seizing body to one side

“Administering 5mg of Diazepam.”, Another one said before injecting something into his IV, Gon was momentarily relieved at the sight of Yeong’s body becoming still again and the medics rolled him back.

They forced Yeong’s mouth open to guide a tube down his throat, then connecting it to an ambubag, pumping air into his oxygen deprived lungs. They did it so quick and skilfully as if they practised intubation even in their sleep. Gon knew that whatever the poison was, it had totally paralysed Yeong’s respiratory functions.

Everything happened so fast, apparently Yeong’s heart had stopped. Everybody went crazy, the medics worked too fast for Gon to follow. His own heart was racing like a horse but his brain has stopped signalling him to breathe. He just looked at Yeong’s body, drained of life, someone who was well and talking not even fifteen minutes ago now lies on the floor without a heartbeat.

A medic was doing CPR on Yeong whilst another was busy pumping air to his lungs, “—Give him a round of epi”

When they charged up the AED, everybody stopped at the “Clear!” order and moved away from the body.

“Shock!”

There was a little jolt, then the medics moved in again, checking Yeong’s vitals.

“Rhythm is back.”

“Okay, let’s move him onto the stretcher.”

Everyone started to usher out of the room, wheeling Yeong away on a stretcher. Gon grabbed the arm of the lead doctor, “I-is he going to be okay?”

The doctor sighed, “We have him back for now, but we have to get him to the hospital immediately.”

Gon nodded, “Save him. No matter what.”

“We’ll try our best”, with that, the doctor bowed and excused himself hurriedly to catch up with the medics and the patient.

Gon asked In-Young to follow them and then turned to Ho-Pil, “Go through the CCTV, find out who had access to the food. No one is an exception.

“Yes Pyeha!”

* * *

It wasn’t hard to find the culprit, it was the new cook, haven’t been around for more than a week so he didn’t know about the ‘food testing’ protocol for the king. By the time they found the guy, he had took his own life by seemingly the same method. Cause of death was respiratory arrest- The very thing that Yeong was going through a moment ago in Gon’s study. 

At least he didn’t leave without an explanation, the man’s wife died of an asthma attack. On the same day that she died, major roads were blocked for an event that involved the king, hence the ambulance wasn’t able to reach them in time to save her life. He decided to take revenge, by making the king ‘suffocate’ like how his beloved wife had. And the rest is history.

Gon ran his hand through his hair in frustration, this was a sloppy criminal, but it did cost Gon Yeong, whom he didn’t hear about for two hours already. He had to stay behind at the palace to handle the aftermath; negotiating with the PR office to make sure that not a single word about this incident goes out and then the police were involved, well, because there’s a dead body and another man is on the brink of death. The contaminated food was sent for testing, and while waiting for the results Gon received a text from In-Young:

_ Cyanide poisoning. They are still working on Captain Jo with the antidote.  _

Gon didn’t know whether he should be relieved or not. Yeong is still alive, but cyanide is a whole new level. It made sense now, all the symptoms Yeong had presented is consistent with cyanide poisoning. It’s a highly lethal substance, and Gon hopes that the dosage wasn’t high enough to cause more complications. 

It was already dawn when Gon arrived at the hospital. Yeong is alive, but he had slipped into a coma and put on the ventilator. The improvements are slow but there, it’s just a matter of time that the toxins are flushed out and for the antidote to kick in.

Gon learned that usual victims of such poisoning would die within 30 minutes if not tended to. He wouldn’t dare to think about what could’ve been of Yeong, it’s a relief that he’s still here even though it will be some time before he can breathe on his own. 

It’s not the first time Yeong had been admitted to hospital because of Gon, his whole purpose revolves around sacrificing for the king. And Gon hated that. He hated seeing his only friend suffer, always so selfless to put himself in danger for Gon. But this time was different, nobody saw it coming. Sometimes the ‘food testing’ became a joke between Gon and Yeong, because they didn't think that someone would be so foolish to try and kill him by tampering with his food. Clearly, it’s not a joke after all.

The sight of Yeong was not pretty, Gon collapsed into the visitors chair next to the bed, looking at all the tubes and wires attached to his unbreakable sword. They had changed him into a patient outfit, the wires from the ECG leads snaking out of the clothing, bags of drips hung on the IV pole, Gon counted three, he recalled the previous times that Yeong got banged up, it was only one. Cyanide is definitely worse than getting shot or stabbed...or falling off a horse...anyway, that’s a story for another time.

Gon listened to the steady beeping of the heart monitor and the hissing of the ventilator like it was a holy mantra. The only thing to reassure him that Yeong was still alive. The doctors said they didn’t know when he would wake up, there had been too much shock and they feared there would be brain damage due to the lack of oxygen. Gon didn’t want to think about it, he knew that Yeong would wake up. He’d be fine. _He always will be._

* * *

On the fifth day, Yeong finally woke up. Gon was thankful for the fact that the younger man was still heavily sedated, or else he would’ve freaked out and start choking on the plastic tube down his throat. That was a memory from before that Gon didn’t want to revisit.

“Yeong?”, Gon moved into the Yeong’s view

The groggy eyes blinked slowly for a few times before they met Gon’s. As expected, Yeong’s heart rate picked up pace in slight panic, he started shifting around uncomfortably and his hands slowly reaching for the contraptions in his mouth. 

Gon pushed his hands down lightly, “It’s okay, just let it breathe for you”

Gon saw what he thought was probably annoyance in Yeong’s eyes. He couldn’t blame him, It’s annoying when you can’t talk or breathe at your own pace

Gon pressed the assistance button, “I called the doctor”, He then looked at Yeong seriously with pleading eyes, “Don’t sleep.”

Yeong blinked slowly, Gon is relieved that Yeong can understand him and is trying his best to stay awake before the doctors arrive. He didn’t realize he was gripping onto Yeong’s hand until Yeong looked down, and Gon followed his gaze. He was going to let go but Yeong squeezed it lightly, indicating that he was fine with it

After doing some preliminary tests to make sure that everything was okay, the nurses adjusted the bed to a sitting position, and asked Yeong to cough as they pulled out the tube.  Seeing the procedure made Gon cringe, Yeong gagged and coughed involuntarily, his eyes red and teary. He knew that Yeong hated the thing with a passion and as long as he is conscious, he will make sure that he will be breathing on his own. 

The nurse slipped on an oxygen mask over his face, Gon could see that Yeong wanted to say something about it, thankfully the calming sedatives made the nurse’s work much easier. After everyone left, Gon turned to see that Yeong had fallen asleep again from exhaustion. Satisfied with the vitals, Gon leaned back in the chair and continued reviewing paperwork.

The next time Yeong woke up, he started talking, “Did they find out who it was? Are you okay?”, we’re the first things he said to Gon.

It was hard for Gon to not burst out laughing at Yeong’s hoarse and cracking voice. The younger man could only glare in return to his teasing.

Smiling, Gon pushed the agitated captain back down to the bed, “Calm down Yeong, it’s all taken care of. Moreover, I should be the one asking if you’re okay.”

Even so, Yeong continued to look at Gon, his gaze like lasers, making Gon shift awkwardly in his seat.

“Seriously, it’s all handled.”, Gon insisted, and Yeong looked away, picking at the tape on his IV.

“Please don’t think about discharging yourself”

Yeong stopped his fidgeting and looked at Gon, embarrassed. They both know that he hates hospitals, and Gon knew Yeong too well to leave him alone because Yeong would discharge himself against doctors orders as soon as the opportunity opens. Especially this time, unlike the usual injuries that Yeong had sustained before, poisoning was something that nobody was familiar with, so it was safer to stay put. 

“How are you feeling Yeong?”, Gon changed the topic

Yeong sighed heavily, “Excuse my language, but I feel like shit”

Gon chuckled, “Yeah well, they cracked three ribs doing CPR on you and you were on a ventilator for five days.”

Yeong’s eyes widened, his hand hovered over his chest unconsciously. 

Gon leaned forwards in his chair, “You died...Never do that again”

Yeong smiled bitterly, “I’d do that a thousand times more than to see you in this bed”

Gon let out an exasperated sigh, “I really need to have you re-evaluated for brain damage.”

“I’m surprised”

“Why?”

“I didn’t see it coming”, Yeong admitted

“Neither did I”

* * *

In the next few days, Gon had forced Yeong into cooperating with the doctors for whatever test they needed to do. Yeong passed each of them with flying colors but another itching problem has been discovered. Apparently what happened had caused a trauma, now it’s impossible to get Yeong to eat. His subconscious keeps telling him that the food is poisoned, making him lose trust in almost everything. Nobody can successfully put more than two spoons of food into his mouth. Not Gon, not Lady Noh, not any of the royal guards and not even his own mother.

“Yeong Ah~ please eat something. It’s safe to eat! See!”, Gon took a bite of the congee he had made for Yeong, trying for the third time today to get Yeong to eat.

Yeong eyed him suspiciously, waiting for a minute or two to see if there was any negative reactions, then he picked up the spoon reluctantly and took a bite. Forcing to food down his oesophagus.

Gon was over the moon. He couldn’t stop smiling at the fact that he had finally succeeded in making a crack on Yeong’s great wall of defence and it’s the first time that he hasn’t puked out the food. 

“Is it good?”

“It’s okay”

Gon crossed his arms, “You better eat more or I’ll have them delay your discharge.”

“Are you threatening me?

“Yes indeed.”

Yeong set the spoon down on the table, “I don’t know what’s wrong Pyeha...”

“Tell me”

“It’s just...”, Yeong hesitated for a moment, “whenever I eat, my brain is telling me that it’s dangerous, and I just feel sick.”

“Hmmm...”

Yeong looked at the king in confusion, “Hmm?”

Then Gon’s eyes lightened up, as if a great idea just popped inside his head, he turned to Yeong, “Yeong ah, be good, I’ll come back tomorrow.”

With that, Gon dashed out of the room, leaving Yeong even more confused.

The next day, Gon returned with clothes for Yeong, “Get dressed, You’re getting discharged.”

Yeong knitted his brows together, “What?”

“You heard me, I’ll be waiting outside.”

Gon took Yeong back to the palace, and led him straight to the kitchen. The countertop was full of fresh ingredients, ready to be made into the most delicious dish.

“Sit”, Gon gestured for Yeong to sit on a stool

“Pyeha, you’re not cooking for me are you?”, Yeong asked worriedly 

“Yes I am. Now sit.”

Yeong shook his head, “No Pyeha.”

Gon looked at Yeong with the ‘seriously?’ look, “Jo Yeong, it’s the kings order”

Yeong sighed and pulled out the stool to sit. He watched as Gon skillfully chop up the vegetables, stir frying the meat and tasting the food as he cooks. In the end, Gon presented the finished product before Yeong. It was one of Yeong’s favorites from when they were kids, and it still is. 

“Eat.”, Gon said

Yeong was so unsure about everything, what was the purpose of Gon doing all this? He picked up the chopsticks slowly, and was about to take a piece of food. Before he stopped abruptly and placed the chopsticks down in defeat.

“I-I can’t”

Gon didn’t say anything, instead he started digging into the food, “Yeong ah, what are you afraid of?”

“I’m not afraid. My mind just rejects everything. I can’t control it!”

“Then convince it.”, Gon paused, “Yeong, You watched me make the food from its bare ingredients, you saw me eat it. And I’m okay. There is no excuse for your brain to think that the food is unsafe.”

Gon picked up Yeong’s chopsticks and offered it to him, “Yeong, do you trust me?”

Yeong took the chopsticks and nodded lightly, his mind still contemplating what Gon had just said. Gon was right, there is no way that the food before him is poisoned. Swallowing hard, Yeong picked up a piece of meat and placed it into his mouth. Chew. Taste. Swallow. Yeong had expected his stomach to go crazy and he'd be puking his guts out but nothing happened, he looked up at Gon in surprise.

Gon smiled, “See? You’re fine.”

“My mother's version testes better”, Yeong said flatly

“Yah Jo Yeong!”

-END-


End file.
